Dallas Cowboys Blog

Cowboys TE Jason Witten a late arrival to mini-camp practice after serving on Denton County jury

IRVING – Looking for a way to get out of jury duty? Take this into account: Not even a seven-time Pro Bowl tight end can escape his civic responsibility.

Jason Witten missed the start of the Cowboys’ mini-camp practice Tuesday because he was serving on a Denton County jury. The case was settled by late morning, allowing Witten to join his teammates about 30 minutes after the start of practice.

For Witten, it was a rare late arrival. He’s always one of the first players at the Valley Ranch facility and never misses a practice. He’s only missed one game over his nine-season career and that came during his rookie year of 2003 because of a broken jaw.

“This is a big week for us as a team and I definitely didn’t want to miss it,” Witten said. “I was fortunate enough to get out of there and at the same time it was a neat experience for me. Obviously it’s a huge honor and all of us should take a tremendous amount of pride in that and I’m no different.”

Witten said he donated his jury pay and picked up a new nickname from his teammates: The Judge.

“I told him that he had to go that far just to get out of some walk-throughs in mini-camp,” quarterback Tony Romo said. “There have got to be a million things you can say, isn’t there?”

Witten said he never thought about skipping out on practice Tuesday after he was released from his courthouse duties.

“No, never. Of course not,” Witten said. “I just watched the New York Giants go and celebrate at the White House, so I needed to get out here and practice. I know some of those other people were playing hooky the rest of the day.”

Witten said this was the first time he’s had to serve on a jury.

“I think I’ve got some friends up there at the Denton County office because I signed for every one of them and their families,” Witten said. “They still made me stay. I was glad to do it, glad to serve.”